Playing card holder and dispenser



May 25, 1965 J. T. RUSSELL 3,185,482 y PLAYING GARD HOLDER AND DISPENSER LTA; 2 530 1/-400 5j E INVENTOR May 25, 1965 J. T. RUSSELL PLAYING CARD HOLDER AND DISPENSER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Deo. 28, 1962 u R mf m5 w@ w M J j ATTORNEY May 25, 1965 J. T. RUSSELL 3,185,482

PLAYING GARD HOLDER AND DISPENSER HHHH IN VEN TOR. JPM/55 Z39/xfa United States Patent O 3,185,482 PLAYING CARD HOLDER AND DISPENSER .lames T. Russell,` 19460 Cranbrook Drive,

Detroit 21, Mich. Filed Dec.` 28, 1962, Ser. No. 248,125 Claims. (Cl. 273-148) This invention relates to playing card holders and dispensers of the type particularly desirable for use in card games wherein a portion of a deck of cards is dealt to the players and the remainder held in a stack for dispensing by the withdrawal of a single card only by each player as required by the rules of the card game being played.

There have been a number of such devices in the prior art, but none has proven entirely satisfactory in that many do not accommodate both wide and narrow cards, some do not hold the undealt portion of the deck positively against accidental withdrawal of more than one card at a time, and others permitcareless stacking of discards.

With the foregoing in view, the primary object of the invention is Ito provide an improved playing card holder and dispenser that will accommodate both the conventional wide and narrow playing cards, hold a complete deck of cards of an undealt stack therein in a manner to dispense therefrom only a single card responsive to manual withdrawal from the dispenser, the said playing card holder including for optional use a discard card stacker making the pick-up of discards convenient, and means for orienting the card holder and dispenser for the convenient use of each player. i

A further object of the invention is to provide in a playing card holder and dispenser of the type aforesaid including a card pressure plate for holding cards in a ready-towithdraw position and adapted for readily and conveniently receiving a partial or full deck of cards.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a playing card holder and dispenser embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is an end elevational View of the near end as viewed in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an end elevational view similar to FIG. 2 with a portion broken away to illustrate the manner in which a pack of playing cards is inserted in the card holder-dispenser compartment.

FIG. 5 is an end elevational View similar to FIG. 4 with portions broken away showing a partial pack of cards inserted in the card holder-dispenser compartment and with discards disposed in the discard tray.

FIG. 6 is a plan view similar to FIG. 1 except with portions broken away to illustrate the construction preferably employed.

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of -the discard tray side of the playing cardholder-dispenser taken at the right hand side thereof as viewed in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view with parts broken away taken at the left hand side of the playing card holder-dispenser as viewed in FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the several views, the particular playing card holder and dispenser 10 disclosed therein to illustrate the inven tion consists, in general,` of a `base 11, a card holder 12 for holding a deck or a portion ofa deck of playing cards 13 including card retaining rails 128 and 129, and pressure plate means 30 mountedin said card holder 12 for combined deflection and controlled tilting action. The

ICC

said pressure plate means 30 is spring loaded not only to hold the playing cards 13 in dispensing position Within the said card holder 12 in readiness for manual dispensingtherefrom but to permit a full or a partial deck of playing cards 13 to be inserted readily and easily into the card holder 12. The said card holder 12 is arranged to accommodate playing cards 13 of either `the Wide or narrow conventional widths, and to permit only one card at a time to be dispensed therefrom manually. The playing card holder 12 is preferably turnably and removably mounted on a vertically disposed mounting pin 16 fixed in and extending upwardly from the base 11, and is provided with a discard tray 40 which is removably connected to and carried by the said card holder 12 as hereinafter described.

The base 11 of the playing card holder and dispenser 10 is preferably formed of plastic and is waied at 110 where possible for lightness. Each corner of the base 11 may be formed solid as at 111 to accommodate nonslip cushion feet 18, and the central part of the base 11 is provided with a depending pad 112 to receive and hold the mounting pin 16 upon which the card holder 12 is turnaoly and removably mounted. The top of the base 11 is provided with a platform 113 into which is xed a plurality of -ball bearing stops 19 at the corners thereof, which `stops 19 form a part of a ball detent means 20 for arresting the turning of the card holder 12 which has located in the bottom thereof a plurality of apertures or indentations 21 that register with each ball bearing stop 19. The said stops 19 in the base 11 and the said apertures 21 in the bottom of the card holder 12 are preferably located in a square format and are so related in respect to each other and the base 11 that the card holder 12 may be readily turnedimanually and come to a stop at` degree positions for convenient use by any of two, three or four players seated opposite or angular ly adjacent to each other. Of course, the base 11 may be formed in a single plastiemolded element, and in so doing, plastic nubs which register with the apertures or indentations 21 in the bottom 120 of the card holder 12 could be substituted for the ball bearing stops 19.

The card holder 12 has a bottom 120, a vertical left side wall 121 and sloping right side wall 122 as viewed in FIGS. 1-6 inclusive, and vertical end walls 123. A short preferably cylindrical boss i124 extends upwardly from the bottom of the card holder 12. The said bottom 120 and boss 124 of the card holder 12 are provided with a vertical aperture 22 therethrough to freely accommodate the mounting pin 16 by means of which the card holder 12 is turnably mounted on the base 11 as hereinbefore described. Radially extending from the said` cylindrical boss 124 to the side walls 121 and 122 and the end walls 123 are a plurality of reinforcing ribs 125, 126 and127 suitably located to avoid a pair of vertically disposed laterally spaced spring locator nubs 23 preferably molded integral with and extending upwardly from the bottom 120 of the cardholder 12. These spring locator nubs 23 accommodate and hold in proper location the small lower ends of a pair of helical pressure plate springs 25 as hereinafter described.

The top of the said card holder 12 is provided with card retainer rails 12S and 129 at opposite sides thereof of a width to overlie a por-tion of each side of a deck or partial deck of playing cards 13 inserted and held in the card holder 12. By making the card retainer rails 128 and 129 the proper width, the card holder 12 will accommodate either the conventional narrow or wide decks of cards.

Within the card holder 12 and slightly smaller than the upper portion of the interior thereof is a pressure plate 30 which is constantly urged by the pair of pressure plate springs 25 upwardly toward,.and when the card e? holder 12 is empty, against the bottom of the card retainer rails 12S and 129.

Adjacent to and spaced from the vertical side wall 121 of the card holder 12, each vertical end wall 123 is provided with a vertically disposed guide Slot 1236' which slidably accommodates a trunnion 31 formed on each end of the pressure plate 30. The said trunnions 31 t relatively freely in the said guide slots 1239. The pressure plate springs 25 are preferably helical type compression springs with the small lower end of each spring telescoped over a spring locator nub 23. The large upper end of each of the said helical type pressure plate springs 25 is iixed to the bottom of the pressure plate 30 by threading the said upper end of each spring 25 through a pair of spaced apertures 320 provided in spring anchor bars 32 preferably molded on the bottom of the pressure plate 30. The said spring locator nubs 23 and the spring anchor bars 32 are so located as to cause the pressure plate springs 25 to hold the pressure plate 30 substantially central in respect to the rectangle defined by the inner upper periphery of the side walls 121 and 122 and the end walls 123 of the card holder 12, and, at the same time, the said pressure Springs 25 exert a'substantially uniform upward pressure on the pressure plate 3G.

The end walls 123 of the card holder 12 are preferably approximately one and one-half card thickness lower than the top of the side walls 121 and 122 and the bottom of the card retainer rails 128 and 129. This permits only one card at a time to be dispensed from either end of the card holder 12 when a player friction grips with one or two fingers the top of the uppermost card of a deck or partial deck of playing cards held in the card holder 12 by the pressure plate 30 thereof as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5.

The side of the pressure plate 3d adjacent the vertical side wall 121 of the card holder 12 is scalloped out at 300, the upper portion of the vertical side wall of the card holder 12 is scalloped out at 1216, and the card retainer rail 128 adjacent the said vertical side wall 121 is omitted at the central portion thereof, all to provide an access area for ones thumb and finger while inserting a deck or partial deck of cards 13 in the card holder 12 on the pressure plate 30 and below the card retainer rails 123 and 129. By reference to FlG. 4, a deck of cards 13 is pressed downwardly against the top of the pressure plate 30 adjacent the unnotched side thereof whereupon the said cards become readily positioned below the card retainer rail 129. The deck of cards 13 are then moved further toward the sloping side wall 122 as indicated by the dot and dash lines 130 in FIG. 4, whereupon the opposite side of the pressure plate 30 and cards 13 are depressed, and the cards 13 are then tucked under the card retainer rail 12S. It will be noted that during the placement of a deck or partial deck of cards 13 into the card holder 12, the pressure plate 30 both pivots about its trunnions and first moves downwardly against and then upwardly with the pressure plate spring 25.

The herein disclosed construction provides for easy placement of cards in the card holder 12 and at the same time holds them in readiness for manual one by one removal responsive to a simple movement of the hand with the one or more ngers bearing firmly but lightly on the uppermost card adjacent an end thereof. FIG. 1 shows in dot and dash lines 133 a plurality of playing cards 13 in the card holder with one suc-h card partially removed therefrom as indicated by the dot and dash lines 1336.

The sloping side wall 122 of the card holder 12 is preferably provided with a pair of vertically spaced longitudinally extending upwardly hook shaped anchorages 1220. A discard tray 4t]v in the general form of a triangular trough has provided on its rear wall 41 a pair of vertically spaced longitudinally extending downwardly hooked anchors 42 formed complementary to the said anchorages 1220. With such construction, the discard tray 49 may be readily and iirmly hung onto or removed from the card holder 12. Abutments 1221 at each end of the anchorages 1220 maintain the discard tray 40 in its proper transverse location on the sloping side wall 122. 1t will be noted by reference to FIG. l that the front wall 43 of the discard ltray 40 is suitably notched at Si? and the bottom 44 thereof is suitably contoured at 441i to provide easy pick-up access to playing cards 13 discarded therein. Side walls 45 of the discard tray 4t) maintain cards 13 laterally therein. The dot and dash lines 12d@ and 409 in FiG. 1 indicate the manual turnability of the card holder 12 and discard tray 40 with respect to the base 11 of the playing card holder and dispenser 10, and the fact that the discard tray 40 when in place on the card holder 12 turns therewith.

Although but a single embodiment of the invention has been disclosed and described herein, it is obvious that many changes and alterations may be made in the size, shape, arrangement and detail of the various elements of the invention, all without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as dened by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A playing card holder and dispenser comprising a card container including a bottom, sides and ends to accommodate playing cards in stacked relationship therein,

top rails disposed along the top of each side of said container of a width to overlie a portion of each side of cards stacked therein,

a pressure plate supporting said stack of cards including spring means in said container disposed longitudinally central of said pressure plate urging the said pressure plate upwardly with the uppermost card in said stack positioned against the bottom of said top rails,

the top of the end walls of said card container being disposed a distance below said top rails slightly greater than the thickness of one card but not as great as the thickness of two cards whereby to admit of manually withdrawing one card only from either end of said card container,

a pair of vertical guide slots, one slot in each end of said card container located under the rear top rail,

and fixed trunnions extending from opposite ends of said pressure plate at one side thereof slidable and turnable in said guide slots maintaining the said pressure plate in its proper location under a stack of cards placed in said card container and simultaneously permitting said pressure plate to be deflected at the other side thereof during placement of said cards in said container.

2. A playing card holder and dispenser comprising a base, and a card container including a bottom, sides and ends to accommodate playing cards in stacked relationship therein,

means turnably mounting said card holder on said base including detent means disposed between said base and the bottom of said card holder arresting the manual turning of said card holder to selected preestablished positions in respect to said base,

top rails disposed along the top of each side of said container of a width to overlie a portion of each side of cards stacked therein,

a pressure plate supporting said stack of cards including spring means in said container disposed longitudinally central of said pressure plate urging the said pressure plate upwardly with the uppermost card in said stack positioned against the bottom of said top rails,

the top of the end walls of said card container being disposed a distance below said top rails slightly greater than the thickness of one card but not as great as the thickness of two cards whereby to admit of manually withdrawing one card only from either end of said card container,

a pair of vertical guide slots, one slot in each end of said card container located under the rear top rail,

and fixed trunnions extending from opposite ends of said pressure plate at one side thereof slidable and turnable in said guide slots maintaining the said pressure plate in its proper location under a stack of cards placed in said card containerand simultaneously permitting said pressure plate to be deflected at the other side thereof during placement of said cards in said container.

3. A playing card holder and dispenser comprising a rectangular card container including a bottom, one vertical and one downwardly and outwardly sloping side wall, and end walls accommodating playing cards in stacked relationship therein,

top rails disposed along` the top of each side wall of said container of a width to overlie a portion of each side of cards stacked therein,

a pressure plate slightly smaller than the rectangle formed at the top side of said side and end walls supporting said stack of cards and including spring means in said container disposed longitudinally central of said pressure plate urging the said pressure plate upwardly with the uppermost card in said stack positioned against the bottom of said top rails,

said spring means comprising a pair of helical springs having their small ends anchored at the bottom of said container and their upper ends anchored to the bottom of said pressure plate,

the top of the end walls of said card container being disposed a distance below said top rails slightly greater than the thickness of one card but not as great as the thickness of two cards whereby to admit of manually withdrawing one card only from either end of said card container,

a pair of vertical guide slots, one slot in each end wall of said card container located adjacent the vertical side wall thereof, i

and fixed trunnions extending from opposite ends of said pressure plate at one side thereof slidable'and turnable in said guide slots maintaining the said pressure plate in a central location in respect to said rectangle formed at the top of said side and end walls of the card container permitting said pressure plate to be deected more at the other side thereof than at at said one side thereof during placement of said cards in said container.

4. A playing card holder and dispenser comprising a base, a card container including a bottom, sides and ends to accommodate playing cards in stacked relationship therein,

top rails disposed along the top of each side of said container of a width to overlie a portion of each side of cards stacked therein,

a pressure plate supporting said stack of cards including spring means in said container disposed longitudinally central of said pressure plate urging the said pressure plate upwardly with the uppermost card in said stack positioned against the bottom of said top rails,

the top of the end Walls of said card container being disposed a distance below said top rails slightly greater than the thickness of one card but not as great as the thickness of two cards whereby to admit of manually withdrawing one card only from either end of said container, f

a pair of vertical guide slots, one slot in each end of said card container located under the rear top rail,

fixed trunnions extending from opposite ends of said pressure plate at one side thereof slidable and turnable in said guide slots maintaining the same pressure plate in its proper location under a stack of cards placed in said card container and simultaneously permitting said pressure plate to be deflected at the other side thereof during placement of said cards in said container,

a trough shaped discard receptacle removably hung on one side of said card holder formed to provide easy access to the last of discards placed therein,

means turnably mounting said card holder on said base,

and detent means carried by one of said base and bottom of said card holder cooperating with formations in the other thereof stopping said card holder at intervals during the turning thereof providing easy access by one of a plurality of players to cards carried by said card holder and said discard receptacle.

5. A playing card holder and dispenser comprising a base, and a rectangular card container including a bottom, one vertical and one downwardly and out wardly sloping side wall, and end walls accommodating playing cards in stacked relationship therein,

means turnably mounting said card holder on said base including detent means disposed between said base and the bottom of said card holder arresting the manual turning of said card holder to selected pre-established positions in respect to said base,

top rails disposed along the top of each side wall of said container of a width to overlie a portion of each side of cards stacked therein,

a pressure plate slightly smaller than the rectangle formed at the top of said side and end walls supporting said stack of cards and including spring means in said container disposed longitudinally central of said pressure plate urging the said pressure plate upwardly with the uppermost card in said stack positioned against the bottom of said top rails,

said spring means comprising a pair of helical springs having their small ends anchored at the bottom of said container and their upper ends anchored to the bottom of said pressure plate,

the top of the end wall of said card container being disposed a distance below said top rails slightly greater than the thickness of one card but not as great as the thickness of two cards whereby to admit of manually withdrawing one card only from either end of said card container,

a pair of vertical guide slots, one slot in each end wall of said card container located adjacent the vertical side wall thereof,

and fixed trunnions extending from opposite ends of said pressure plate at one side thereof slidable and turnable in said guide slots maintaining the said pressure plate in a central location in respect to said rectangle formed at the top of said side and end walls of the card container permitting said pressure plate to be deflected more at the other side thereof than at said one side thereof during placement of said cards in said container.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 614,272y l l/ 98 Ohnstrand. 1,246,297 ll/ 17 Michell 273--148 1,583,293 5/26 Horwitt 211-51 1,963,544 6/34 Burt 211-53 2,677,548 5/ 54 Szel 273--148 2,863,675 12/58 Otto 312--59 X 3,030,112 4/ 62 SCharp 273-136 X DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A PLAYING CARD HOLDER AND DISPENSER COMPRISING A CARD CONTAINER INCLUDING A BOTTOM, SIDES AND ENDS TO ACCOMMODATE PLAYING CARDS IN STACKED RELATIONSHIP THEREIN, TOP RAILS DISPOSED ALONG THE TOP OF EACH SIDE OF SAID CONTAINER OF A WIDTH TO OVERLIE A PORTION OF EACH SIDE OF CARDS STACKED THEREIN, A PRESSURE PLATE SUPPORTING SAID STACK OF CARDS INCLUDING SPRING MEANS IN SAID CONTAINER DISPOSED LONGITUDINALLY CENTRAL OF SAID PRESSURE PLATE URGING THE SAID PRESSURE PLATE UPWARDLY WITH THE UPPERMOST CARD IN SAID STACK POSITIONED AGAINST THE BOTTOM OF SAID TOP RAILS, THE TOP OF THE END WALLS OF SAID CARD CONTAINER BEING DISPOSED A DISTANCE BELOW SAID TOP RAILS SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THE THICKNESS OF ONE CARD BYT NOT AS GREAT AS THE THICKNESS OF TWO CARDS WHEREBY TO ADMIT OF MANUALLY WITHDRAWING ONE CARD ONLY FROM EITHER END OF SAID CARD CONTAINER, A PAIR OF VERTICAL GUIDE SLOTS, ONE SLOT IN EACH END OF SAID CARD CONTAINER LOCATED UNDER THE REAR TOP RAIL, AND FIXED TRUNNIONS EXTENDING FROM OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID PRESSURE PLATE AT ONE SIDE THEREOF SLIDABLE AND TURNABLE IN SAID GUIDE SLOTS MAINTAINING THE SAID PRESSURE PLATE IN ITS PROPER LOCATION UNDER A STACK OF CARDS PLACED IN SAID CARD CONTAINER AND SIMULTANEOUSLY PERMITTING SAID PRESSURE PLATE TO BE DEFLECTED A THE OTHER SIDE THEREOF DURING PLACEMENT OF SAID CARDS IN SAID CONTAINER. 